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

This begins the important Section in Chapter 19, "The Obstacles to Peace." Peace is within us, but there are "obstacles" to our awareness of Peace that we impose, and also experience in the world "outside of us." We have to see the Holy Spirit in our Brother in order to reap the benefits of the Holy Relationship, and thus come to the inner peace that we are after. Study of A Course in Miracles is "interactive" in our Relationships with people. We cannot hope to feel the love of God within us if there are people with whom we hold grievances and judgments. Our anger and judgments are blocks to our Spiritual Connection. At some point we decide to drop of ego's thought system for the Holy Spirit's Thought System that is consistent with God's Peace and Joy. Which would we rather have? Heaven or Hell? This decision is in our Mind to make.

This Lesson #70 states, "My salvation comes from me." We have to see that negative emotions, situations and experiences are formulated in the mind first. Depression is "made up" in ourselves when we think that happiness depends on external situations and possessions being a "certain way." Salvation is the freedom from all suffering. Salvation is the making our will one with God's Will for perfect happiness for us. But when we are in the momentum of a "depression," we have to have a different perspective. The guilt, fear, anger, anxiety that may be "attached" to an external condition, are really decisions made in the mind regardless of the external situation. We decide to suffer. We can also decide to find the Light of Forgiveness within ourselves that washes away the sorrows of the world. It's OK if we feel "depressed." We are not more "guilty" for that. But, it is an error that we can correct with the help of the Christ to forgive ourselves, and accept the inner Correction from the Holy Spirit. Therefore, these Helpers are within us to help us accept the Salvation that comes from deep within us.

We are still attracted to the Guilt that we think is a Reality of "sin." The ego bring "sin" to our fears and then seeks some form of punishment. We think sin is real and true, therefore guilt is inevitably the result. This can come to us in a disease, a failed relationship, a failure in our career, etc. We can change our notion of "sin" to merely a mistake, without the "guilt" attached to the error, and therefore be free of the consequences of "sin." Punishment is not justified for mistakes. Errors ask for corrections, not for the "guilt of sin." We must change our perception of errors that are merely mistakes that can be fully corrected. Sin no longer holds us in a locked notion of guilt and ensuing punishment. We give up the notion of sin the minute we accept the correction of our errors. We are free, and there is no sin. AMEN.

SIN VERSUS ERROR—broadcasting from Estonia 🇪🇪, this is a key Section in A Course in Miracles. Sin is an arrogance, because "sin" accompanies "guilt," and 'guilt" demands punishment. Sin is a "request for death." This is a mistake. Sin is irreconcilable. Sin asks for punishment because it sees it as a ‘retribution.” But "error" is correctable. In other words, "error" does not have "guilt” associated with it, therefore it asks for correction, not punishment. We can step outside of the mindset that sees us a "sinners." Sin is not true. The ego thinks that "sin" is real and we cannot escape it. But is is not the truth. What is not true does not exist. We think that "sin" is the truth, but it is not. We can think "sin" is a "mistake" that can be forgiven and corrected, because it is an error that is not true. This heavily defended thought, "sin is real and inescapable,” is questioned and healed in this short Section in ACIM.

Are we able to look past our brothers' "errors" and not judge them for making the errors in the first place? Anger, attack, guilt, and fear cannot be Love. Love is alway happy and at peace. This is the truth. We would be in error to try to "join" love and anger, as they come from irreconcilable thought systems. The Messengers of Love deliver Love’s messages, but do not judge in any way whether the message is received or not. Faith is the proper response to those who have not accepted the "salvation” offered them. How long have we defended our own anger and fear, and not accepted the Atonement for ourselves? How can we therefore judge the timing it would take a brother to wake up? The Messengers of Love come in faith that their messages are received, and that the Holy Spirit will work the miracles in others that the messages invoke. Healing and Faith go together just as attack and sickness go together. The thought systems from which they come are not reconcilable. One excludes the other. Which would we choose? The answer seems simple. Can we make it? Faith is needed.

HEALING relies on a couple key ways of seeing the situation. First we must see that the Mind is where the healing takes place. The Body is not sick, but only a "print out" of the thoughts in the mind. Second we must include our brothers and sisters in the healing. What we deserve from God in our healing process, every other person deserves as well, regardless of any "mistakes" they made in the past. We include them in our healing process. Faith is required to invoke the Holy Spirit to help us heal our minds, and remove our focus on the "body" as the problem and the source of "faithlessness." Minds are joined, bodies are not. But "minds" that think they are separated by bodies are "joined" in "illusions." We can only use one thought system at a time. We are either dedicated to Truth, for which we need faith, or we are dedicated to the ego's thought system of separation in bodies which indicates faithlessness. We do one or the other, but never both.

The Two Worlds are the "world of the ego's thought system" of clouds and deceptions, and the clear Light of the Real World in which forgiveness is complete, and there are no fears, guilts, or anger to obscure this total Atonement's vision of this fearless and timeless place. The Real Self is underneath the thick shroud of "clouds" of fear that block this vision of our True Self. We must go through them, and see that they are nothing. The shadows of the clouds are meaningless and insubstantial. We can go thorough them easily, when we look beyond the body to this Truth of the Holy Spirit's vision. Do not believe the body's eyes' messages of guilt and fear. They are merely cloud formations that only seem solid. "If it helps you, think of me holding your hand and leading you, [through the clouds] and I assure you this will be no idle fantasy." We can invoke Christ Himself to lead us through our fears, our guilts, and the "causes" of our anger. These clouds will not fool us any more. We walk toward the Light, and here we are in the Real World where "guilt" meets with total forgiveness. This new perception shines of everything with Innocence. There is no attack on the Son of God. We are ready for God's final step.

The "Little Garden" is a place in which we can nurture the larger whole of our Divine Connection that includes our brothers and sisters. We shift our focus away from the small part of awareness of our ego self of the body to our Spiritual Self liberated from the confinement of the body. We connect with everyone and everything in this Connection to our Source. We are ONE in this Source. We make this leap into awareness of the Greater Reality of the Whole. This is the mission of Mantra Breathing—to nurture the Oneness into which we all come together and end the separation. We forgive our "littleness" and bring our awareness of a greater Love, a Greater Reality. The "Garden" is a place where we all come together to nurture this awareness of the Whole. We come together in Love. Love reaches to everything created like Itself, Limitless and Whole. We call on Love to enter Mantra Breathing that transcends our bodies and gives us a holy vision of True Brotherhood. The "Little Garden" is the place we can nurture one another amidst the desert of our separation we imposed on ourselves. Everyone enters one-by-one into this Holy Place of Union. AMEN. https://bit.ly/MantraBreathing

"I need do nothing" is a direction from the Holy Spirit that clears away all of our activity that produces no real contact with our Reality. The real purpose of meditation is to make this contact directly, and it is not necessarily a "set of actions" we must take to join with our inner truth. The means we are given is the Holy Relationship in which we join instantly with our brother and end all notions of separation we have from our original innocence. "Guilt" no longer attracts us in our "fight" to liberate ourselves from inner conflicts. The "fight" is an arduously long road to free ourselves from "sin." If "sin" is not real, and the methods we use to free ourselves from this "self judgment" take too long to accomplish, it is only necessary for us to "stop doing" what does not work. We "need do nothing" is a realization that frees us from all meaningless activity. The present moment may present a "conflict" to undo, but even in this we can allow the Holy Spirit to guide us and do the "work." One instant truly spent with joining our brother, gives us the "ultimate release." This proves all other methods superfluous and not needed.

There is a HEAVEN STATE that is possible for us to be AWARE of, and it is solely in our Mind. We have contact with this in our Mind. We see the ONENESS within this AWARENESS. We join our brothers there. It is available to us right now. We need not prepare ourselves for this, nor do we need to purify what is already pure. But we do need to give more ATTENTION to this inner Reality. The Body is nearly forgotten in this shift from Body Identification to Spiritual Identification held firmly in the MIND. At the MIND level we are joined with EVERYTHING. We no longer use the Body as a device to confirm guilt or attack. We no longer project "guilt" onto the Body. We can now stretch our our hand to our Brothers and enter this Heaven State of Being together. The feeling of Liberation is very real. We escape from all limitations we imposed, and enter into the state of WHOLENESS. We unite together with universal consciousness, and this includes everyone and everything within us. AMEN.