Dear Hearts,
Restless? Thinking about a change?
I mean a really big change, the kind that you believe will set you free, the kind that you dream
will solve your problems, the kind you imagine will heal the lack, inadequacy and anxiety
that has plagued you too many years?
Have you been longing for something different, something better, something easier, someone lovelier?
Maybe it’s a new relationship? Or the end of an old one? Maybe it’s time to quit your job
or start a new one? Maybe if you just clean the house, give up sugar, buy a Hybrid, and practice yoga you will feel better?
Then again,
maybe it’s not you who needs changing. Have you been thinking about changing them? The whole world has been looking grotesquely crazy. Even the weather can’t get it together. Maybe it’s not you,
maybe it’s them who need the fix. Do you want to change them?
Forget it.
Forget the diet, the relationship fix, the new job, the clean house, the Hybrid. These may soothe the ego for a while, but they will not change what needs changing. What needs changing is your mind.
There are no satisfactions in the world…When you let your mind be drawn to bodily concerns, to things you buy, to eminence as valued by the world, you ask for sorrow, not for happiness. ACIMWB P1-133
Jess (Jesus) is crystal on this. You cannot change yourself by changing “effects.” Effects (including bodies) are the results of your thinking. You see what you wish to see. You are the effect of your beliefs. Change must come from within, from the source of all those things that seem to need changing.
Forget them.
The laws of change apply to them as well as you. Literally, the “them” you see, perceived so unhappy, angry, or pathetically insane, “they” serve your values and purpose.
ACIM explains,
a madman thinks the world he sees is real and does not doubt it… In itself, the world is nothing. You have enslaved it with … fears, with doubts and miseries; …your sorrows press upon it and keep it prisoner to your beliefs… Beliefs are powerful indeed. Change but your mind on what you want to see, and all the world must change accordingly. WBP1.132
There is nothing unhealthy about wanting change. The idea of a “better” way inspired Helen Schucman to reach out to Bill Thetford in friendship. Their “better” thoughts became the birth pangs of A Course In Miracles. In its pages lie the secrets of salvation.
Here is my lesson. I rarely write about anything unless it is a personal challenge.
And these I share with Jess, my heart’s CEO (Christ Eternal Omniscient?) (Christ Emotional Opener?)
(Jess) Do not gaze upon this world with longing.
It holds nothing you truly want.
(marybeth) Yes it does! I want a new car.
How about a successful book launch?
(Jess) Neither cast your eyes outward
hoping for something new,
something wonderful on the horizon
come (just in time) to save you.
From this view the world is dis-eased.
Death is its law, a law opposed to Truth.
It has no savior to cure you.
Maladies and poverties are its ego-centric effects.
Would you seek salvation in such disappointing idols?
(marybeth) These words chaff the heart. I realize I am identified with illusions,
but the world I see apart from God seems blatantly real.
My mind ping pongs like a little white ball bouncing back and forth,
Truth or false self?
When I identify with Jess the world fades. Vision softens.
I can breathe salvation’s peace. But it doesn’t take much
for the ball to bounce right back into the achy, breaky ego.
My brain is tired of this mental flip flop.
(Jess) The world you see is a shadow of beliefs.
Beliefs, in fact, concepts, opinions,
judgments, and memories
become possessions.
Follow me and leave your possessions.
These possession, possess your self.
Leave everything you think real.
Leave your mind.
And find your sanity.
You will not be left Thoughtless.
You will possess stillness,
and treasure silence.
You can no longer afford
the indulgence of thinking.
Listening, receiving,
acceptance, obeisance…
these the tools of My
ministers of change.
These are in your power now
to choose or to refrain.
God does not impose.
Save yourself, Child of Love
So doing, you save Me.
Consider how you save the Son!
The power to heal is in your power.
Choose “them” or choose Me.
Choose to listen, or choose the prison
of the mind enslaved by fear.
A choice for Love changes everything.
Everything gives you freedom
to choose.
(marybeth) Thank you Jess, I understand,
nothing apart from me needs changing,
nothing outside of mind, exists,
except perhaps…
I really need to change
into a fresh pair of pajamas.
Time for a shower.
Good night Lights.
What? Really?
Jess says He Loves me exactly as I Am.
We meet tonight at 7:30, St. Michael’s Episcopal Church. 112 Randolph Ave. Milton.
See you there.
Please come exactly as You are.
Don’t change a thing, except maybe…
all love,
marybeth