Location: The Kingdom of Heaven | A COURSE IN MIRACLES STUDY GROUP WITH RAJ
Good evening. And welcome to everyone who’s joining us on the Internet. A new section: FREEDOM OF WILL1
How does that relate to what we’ve been talking about? Well, let’s back up to the Beginning. If the Beginning can be expressed as steps, we would have to say that in the Beginning, God.2 In the Beginning, the infinite Mind. In the Beginning, the infinite Mind Moved and Consciousness was born. Consciousness is the Movement of Mind.
Being infinite, being boundless, this infinite Mind – this omnipotent, omnipresent Intelligence experienced Itself infinitely. And for lack of better words, we could say that in that Movement of Mind, which was Consciousness, God was infinitely individualized without ceasing to be One. And the individualizations were Mankind. And so in that basic initial Movement of Mind, the Brotherhood of Man and God as infinite Conscious Being came into existence and the Brotherhood of Man experienced Itself as Consciousness, because nothing of what God was, was withheld from that Movement of Mind. And Man, experiencing what God was Being in Movement, recognized God, confirming Creation to God. And you could say, making God Whole. At the same time, in making God Whole, the Brotherhood of Man – Mankind, made Itself whole . . . still, pure Oneness.
In its activity of recognizing the Movement of God and confirming God in It, as It, the function of Being was established forever. This conscious experience of Being which Mankind was experiencing, was that of being inseparable from – not different from – the Will of God. The Will of God was Mankind’s Will. Simple . . . utterly simple. Uncomplicated.
Now, when someone of the Brotherhood joined with another member of the Brotherhood or Sisterhood and decided to agree to create definitions of Creation different from the Father’s, and commitment was made by both of them to that agreement and to those definitions, a will not of God, and a will not actually of Man seemed to come into existence which we will call “human will.” I say this . . . I bring this out so that you understand that this section entitled Freedom of Will is not talking about what you think of as will that you are free to use and that you ought to be free to use, that you were given the right to use to fulfill yourselves. It does not refer to human will. It refers to the Will that is the Conscious experience of Being, inseparable from the divine Mind – God, the Living God, the present, ever present Movement of Being, called Creation.
That is everyone’s actual will. Freedom of that will? Freedom of that will is to have no other goal, no other purpose, no other intent but the Father’s Will. To be perfectly at One with God as a Conscious experience of Being. I’m not speaking of Oneness with God as a divine spiritual idea, but as an actual experience that your mind will experience when it abandons human will.
You may remember that I’ve said in the past that the only right use of will is to choose not to use it – in other words, to abandon it. Now this doesn’t usually happen until one reaches the bottom of the barrel and loses all hope of control and authority and of any personal private capacity to generate credibility, respectability, actuality. And in that moment of hopelessness there is a silence. And usually in that silence, the one in that place calls out for help. And indeed, that constitutes the two-step – something with which all of you can employ without getting to the bottom of the barrel.
When you get to the bottom of the barrel and you give up, you are in a silence. You’re in a place where mutual agreements with others are the last thing on your mind because you feel no faith in any capacity on your part to manipulate others. And so, in this silence, which is utterly private, and you ask for help, you get help – you receive help. And in the receiving of that help, your existence is validated, not by your works, but by your Being, which preexisted any work you ever accomplished. Which means, your innocence and your perfection and the qualities that would make God love you were all preexisting the efforts you made to make something out of yourself.
Whew! What a relief. Because it makes it clear to you that joining with the Father, experiencing the confirming Love of the Father is the unavoidable actual state of your Being. Again, it’s a simple thing, not complicated like the mutual agreements you have or that you had with your Brothers and Sisters. Now when Paul was in this very situation and gave up and reached out and we began to communicate, he was in a place where there was no self-confidence, there was no arrogance, there was utter, and to him, miserable humility. Miserable because to him, the humility held no option for accomplishing greatness or becoming credible. But nevertheless, in that humility he was able to hear. In humility everyone can hear. But in humility one no longer finds himself relating to his Brothers and Sisters as an orphan. In actuality, one doesn’t find himself relating to his Brothers and Sisters, he or she finds himself or herself relating to the divine Will, to the Holy Spirit, to the Christ or to his or her Guide, all of which serves the same function of returning you to your right Mind. But let’s take a look for a moment here at some of the characteristics of willfulness – of human will. First of all, there are mutual agreements. Of course, agreements are something one abides by.
So agreements are rules, you might say . . . structures of behavior – structures of social behavior. And so you gather your sense of who you are and how to behave from these mutual agreements, which literally means that everyone is bouncing off of everyone’s human will with the greatest amount of harmony that can be mustered up even though one is not connected with the divine Will. Now, on top of these, we’ll say, general mutual agreements there is the habit of meeting others’ expectations. These others could be parents, employers, friends that you want to keep as friends. And so you engage in meeting others’ expectations. And of course, that gets complicated because you’ve got to remember what all the different expectations are of all the different people you know.
Then there is the meeting of expectations you imagine others have. Mind you, all of these things that I’m listing involve self-consciousness. I mean that in the worse sense . . . terrible self-consciousness, unhappy self-consciousness, guilty self-consciousness, self-consciousness where you are not at ease. And so, you imagine that others have expectations of you that they do not have. And you make yourself miserable trying to meet those expectations.
And then you busy yourself with meeting expectations and rules you have created for yourself. As you’ve grown up, things have happened and you’ve said, “Man, I will never do that!” And you make commitment to never doing that, whether not doing it fits later on or meets the need later on. And you’re simply bound by a rule that you no longer realize you’re bound by. Now all of these things are characteristic of the orphan mind-set. All of these things will be abandoned in your practice of the two-step, in your engaging in the holy instant.
Think about it for a moment . . . contemplate that for a moment. Oh yes, everyone wants to have the benefit of the holy instant. But oh, does that mean that I might have to abandon my allegiance to my brothers, my sisters, my employer, my spouse, those in the group I’m a member of? Am I going to have to stop serving them, so that I might go into the silence in the presence of humility, and ask the Father, “What is Your Perspective? I wish to draw from an agreement with You and not all of these other human wills. I wish to learn of the Truth from You and live from that joining with You.”
That’s what it’s going to require. That’s the beauty of what will be required. But nevertheless, it’s something all of you will have to do. Is that going make everyone happy? It will make most everyone happy. But you will find those who feel that you’re confirming their perspective is what they need in order to feel valid. And they will not be happy with your withdrawing from the mutual agreements that you’ve had with them. And you’re going to have to ask yourself, “Is it worth it to continue to serve our mutual agreements? . . . or is it really going to be necessary for me to become humble, quiet, silent, centered and attentive only to the Father’s Will, so that I might gather my comprehension and actual experience of Creation from the very Source of Creation because I have decided to let His Will, which is my only true will, be mine with no preference to express it in any other way. Will I join purely with the Father and from there relate with Creation from our joined Perspective?” That’s the question. More than that, that is the point of decision every one of you will have to come to. A point at which the idea of Atonement is going to have to be replaced with the willingness to actualize it, if I may put it that way, by simply ceasing to express human will, period! And make the shift.
Now I promise you that it will become easier and easier to make the shift because it will become increasingly uncomfortable not to. Why? Well, because it’s time to Wake up. It’s time for the human condition to yield to the divine Reality. It’s time for illusion to be replaced with the Truth as your experience. Now, from the orphan mind-set with all the infinitude of the Brotherhood of God, in which there are an infinitude of choices, Reality is reduced to a singularity. And I shared a visual of that a few weeks ago with the many faceted crystal ball, and explained how if you were to be standing on the outside of the crystal ball and the facet you were standing on was you, you would have an infinity of other individualities representing all the other facets – a complexity of communication that would have to travel around the surface of the ball on the dividing lines between the facets utterly, confusingly complicated and impossible to maintain harmony perfectly. But if one will, as it were, gently shift to the other side of the facet that’s on the interior of the ball, all of the facets are still there but the intervening space is the presence of all of those facets.
And so the infinitude of Being is, I’m going to say, reduced to a singularity in which harmony is the only choice because there is no room for conflict because no duality. You see? When you do the two-step, you shift. You shift into the purity of conscious Being. Now, going into the book: Do you not understand that to oppose the Holy Spirit is to fight YOURSELF?
Remember, the Holy Spirit is your divinity held in trust while you dally with the ego. Another way of saying that, the Holy Spirit is your right Mind while you claim to have a mind of your own, and insist upon employing it in relationship to other brothers and sisters who are employing independence themselves. Do you not understand that to oppose the Holy Spirit is to fight YOURSELF? He tells you but YOUR will; . .
. . . when you say, “Holy Spirit or Father, what is the truth here?” as part of the two-step, you’re asking to be told what your Will is. But it is wise to ask for the Holy Spirit’s Perspective or the Father’s Perspective so that you don’t get your current sense of your will confused with your divine Will which is what you’re seeking to know the truth of. . . . He . . .
. . . the Holy Spirit . . . . . . speaks for YOU.
You see? In His Divinity is but your own.
The Holy Spirit is your divinity held in trust while you dally with the ego. In His Divinity is but your own. All He knows is but your knowledge, saved for you that you may do your will through Him.
In other words, come back into your right Mind by not claiming an independent will of your own, but asking to know what is the Will of the Father, since the Father’s Will is yours and the successful answer to that question reunites you in your unity and therefore your Sanity. God ASKS you do your will. He joins with YOU. He did not set His kingdom up alone. And Heaven itself but represents . . .
. . . what? . . . . . your will, where everything created is for you. No spark of life but was created with your glad consent, . .
. . . you see? . . . as co-creator . . . as that which in the fundamental scheme of things is constitute of your acknowledgement of the Father, your confirmation of the Father. No spark of life but was created with your glad consent, as you would have it be. And not one Thought that God has ever had but waited for your blessing to be born.
You – every single Son or Daughter of God – I’m going to say, participated in and is right now participating in the Movement of Creation, in spite of the fact that you’re paying no attention to that at all because you’re very intent upon maintaining your use of your human will to make yourself worthy, valid, recognizable, rememberable . . . memorable, in other words. God is no enemy to you. He asks no more than that He hear you call Him "Friend."
Whew . . . that’s the simplicity of it, the singularity of it. You are asked . . . you are asked to let yourself be in perfect harmony with the Father and draw every meaning of your current experience from Him. Do you realize that if you do that, you’re going to be free of mutual agreements, you’re going to be free of meeting others expectations, you’re going to be free of the expectations you imagine others have and terrorize yourself with? Do you realize that you’re going to be free of meeting expectations and rules you created for yourself that have no foundation whatsoever in an understanding or comprehension of what’s Real? Do you realize that that means you will be free of self-consciousness?
How wonderful it is to do your will! For that is freedom. There is nothing else that ever should be called by freedom's name.
Of course, from the ego’s vantage point, before you engage in it and make commitment to it, it sounds like the complete loss of freedom, meaning, the loss of freedom to do whatever you please and to make things mean whatever you want them to mean without wisdom, without the benefit of clarity and I’ll say, spiritual understanding.
And so it is not a happy thing when one comes to the point of having to make a choice and abandon the familiar. You see? That’s inertia. But it must be abandoned. Unless you do your will you are not free.
Again, unless you do your divine will you are not free, even though you think that expressing your human will is complete freedom. And would God leave His Son without what he has chosen for himself?
Would God leave you without what you have chosen for yourself? No. You must choose it. You must choose for your will . . . that which is inseparable from the Father’s Will and constitutes the state of co-creation forever, with the Father in the full and true conscious experience of the divine meaning of all of Creation, instead of the miserable “physical universe” definition that you’re giving to Creation and binding yourself with. God but ensured that you would never lose your will when He gave you His perfect answer.
See? And so although you’re ignoring it, although you’re choosing not to avail yourself of it, you have not lost it. Hear it now, that you may be reminded of His love, and learn your will.
And experience infinite peace and the ability to be forever in harmony in the most confirming way to your Brothers and Sisters and all of Creation, and of course, to yourself . . . but yourself as the direct Expression – the Presence of the Father. God would not have His Son made prisoner to what he does not want. He JOINS with you in willing you be free. And to oppose Him is to make a choice against YOURSELF, and choose that YOU be bound.
What it’s really important to understand is, that that’s where you are right now. You are opposing Him and you are making a choice against yourself, and you are choosing that you be bound. That’s why you seem to be governed by the laws of sin, disease and death, the laws of physics, the laws of entropy . . . you see? The laws of constant conflict – forever remaining on the fragile balance point between each other. That’s misery and not your Birthright. And when you get brought right to that edge, you realize it! And at that point you generally express innate Sanity, and you give up and you say, “Father, help!” And in that act you abandon the mutual agreements, you abandon the brotherhood of orphans and you’re set free because the Will of God is still the Will of God, it is still your Will. And when you are undefended against it, it registers with you!
Look once again upon your enemy, the one you chose to hate instead of love. For thus was hatred born into the world, and thus the rule of fear established there. Now hear God speak to you through Him Who is His Voice . . .
. . . the Holy Spirit or the Christ.
Now hear God speak to you through Him Who is His Voice and yours as well, . .
. . . because after all, the Holy Spirit is nothing more than your right Mind, held in trust while you dally with the your private, seemingly powerful, independent mind.
Now hear God speak to you through Him Who is His Voice and yours as well, reminding you that it is not your will to hate, and be a prisoner to fear, a slave to death, a little creature with a little life.
You see, it said . . .
Look once again upon your enemy, . .
. . . well, it turns out that you’re your enemy that you look at without love, but with infinite undying hope that you can become loveable. And your dissatisfaction and dislike of yourself drives you unmercifully to try to accomplish the impossible and become something without being joined, without experiencing your actual divine Will that unites you with Everything.
Your will is boundless; . .
. . . remember that. Your will is boundless; . .
. . . [chuckle] not the one you use every day, but the one that is inherent in you because of what you divinely are.
. . . it is not your will that it be bound. What lies in you has joined with God Himself in all creation's birth.
That’s how incredibly meaningful you are. That’s how incredible Being is with freedom of will. Freedom of will is you no longer claiming separation from the Will of the Father so that you are at One with It, and move with It, and acknowledge It for what It is and confirm God, confirm Reality. Remember He Who has created you, and through your will created everything.
Isn’t that a much more desirable experience than the self-consciousness and misery that comes from having to meet others expectations and meeting expectations you imagine others have, and being governed by expectations and rules you have created for yourself? You bet! But again, and this is the critical point: You’re going to have to be willing to disregard the distress that others express when you withdraw from the partnership you had been in with them. That is going to have to become meaningless to you so that you can release it.
At the bottom line: It may mean that you will have to rearrange your associations. You may have to let go of some of them. I will tell you, that the most effective way to contribute to the Awakening to all of the brothers and sisters – the Awakening of mankind – is to work with those who love what happens when you join in the two-step, in humility with the Father’s Perspective. Because as you join with them and confirm to them the Father’s Perspective and the joy of your freedom from laboring under the hassle of false expectations, the movement will spread – the movement of willingness to take that step. Not one created thing but gives you thanks, for it is by your will that it was born.
But I will tell you, that gratitude is eternal . . . that gratitude embraces you right now, whether it’s the gratitude of a wall, a rock, a jar, a table, a plant, an animal, you are constantly surrounded by and imbued with the Love of Everything. And when you feel It, you are confirming them as God Moving and rendered experienceable. No light of Heaven shines except for you, for it was set in Heaven by your will.
You see what’s being said here? You’re being given a picture of what you will experience when you dare to abandon self-will, abandon self-righteousness, abandon thinking for yourself, concluding things by yourself. And in the absence of caring what your brothers and sisters think – which is your greatest downfall at this point – you will make the shift. And this view . . . this experience will be yours, it will be re- illuminated in you, because it’s your right Mind that’s been present all along, held in trust while you’ve been ignoring It. What cause have you for anger in a world which merely waits your blessing to be free?
Whew . . . Oh yeah, anger’s a hooker. It’ll keep you around, it’ll keep you from Waking up. “Oh yeah, I gotta get justice here. Can’t go until I finish taking care of this lose end and rectifying an injustice.” Oh yes you can. You really can, because there’s a true view not governed by your mindsets, your imaginations. And it’s available to you any moment you choose to receive it – any moment. Nothing has to be taken care of. No loose ends have to be tied up. If you be prisoner, then God Himself could not be free.
Of course, that is an impossibility, therefore, it’s impossible for you not to be free, actually. What you’re “overcoming” is the illusion that you’re not free. Not an actuality. For what is done to him whom God so loves is done to God Himself. Think not He wills to bind you, Who has made you . . .
. . . what? . . . . . co-creator of the universe along with Him. He would but keep your will forever and forever limitless.
Mind you, what this is describing is present right now. And nothing is keeping it from your sight except your insistence upon thinking for yourself, deciding for yourself, authorizing for yourself, making up what you want things to be and mean. Stop it! Do the two-step and persist in that humble silence in which the Oneness – the infinite Oneness of All – is your automatic experience. This world awaits the freedom you will give when you have recognized that YOU are free.
What keeps you bound? The idea that you are bound, but that you on your own can free yourself. It’s not true! You have to join with your Sanity, you have to join with the Holy Spirit – your right Mind – and want to know of It what the truth is. But you will not forgive the world until you have forgiven Him Who gave your will to you.
What? Why would you have to forgive Him? Well, you have to abandon your abandonment of Him . . . you have to abandon your abandonment of Him. When you and another brother said, “Father, we want to make decisions for ourselves, we what a divorce,” you have to forgive the Father for not being what you wanted Him to be when you wanted your independence and He wouldn’t grant it. So you had to get a divorce. It’s that simple. . . . you will not forgive the world until you have forgiven Him Who gave your will to you. For it is BY your will the world is given freedom.
The world is given freedom? Yes, the freedom to be the Kingdom of Heaven that It is, without your constant denial of It by virtue of having a different opinion about It and making commitment to your misperception. Nor can you be free apart from Him Whose holy Will you share. God turns to you to ask the world be saved, for by your own salvation it is healed.
God turns to you. God turned to you and turns to you in every Movement of the infinite Mind that God Is, seeking your confirmation. So don’t be surprised that God would turn to you to ask the world be saved. He turns to you to see the world as It is and recognize Him and your Self in It, because that is Wholeness, that is holiness, that is your Birthright. And that is what will end illusion. And no-one walks upon the earth but must depend on your decision, . .
. . . you can’t Wake up by yourself. You can’t become clear. You can’t experience the Atonement without every aspect of Creation being blessed by your clear vision of It. So everything depends on your decision. . . . no-one walks upon the earth but must depend on your decision, that he learn death has no power over him because he shares your freedom, as he shares your will.
Mind you, initially there will be those who will not see that and will defy you. It doesn’t matter. Work with those who do recognize it, so that in the joining the meaning of Atonement spreads. It IS your will to heal him, and because you have decided WITH him, he is healed.
You get that? . . . and because you have decided WITH him, he is healed.
Work with those who will decide with you. And now is God forgiven, for you chose to look upon your brother as a friend.
You see? First God wants you to see Him truly and call him Friend, and then your brother must be blessed in that recognition. So, as you proceed through this coming week, I’m going to ask you to watch carefully to see when you are making yourself miserable or even happy, because you are meeting others’ expectations, or suffering from the expectations you imagine others have about you. And especially, watch for expectations and rules that you have created for yourself, which supersede your willingness to abandon them to hear of God or the Holy Spirit what the truth is, no matter what your brothers or sisters think, no matter what you think they’re going to think and no matter what you think you ought to be doing instead.
I promise you, that if you do this, it will drive you back to the holy instant very quickly and will promote your more rapid growth, your more rapid movement out of the dream. I love you very much. And I look forward to being with you next time.
A Course In Miracles (reference pages) 1Chapter 30: THE NEW BEGINNING – Section: FREEDOM OF WILL Sparkly Book – p.686 / JCIM – p.288 / CIMS – p.582 First Edition – p. 585 / Second Edition – p.629 2Genesis 1:1 All of the activities of the Northwest Foundation for "A Course In Miracles" are provided without charge or obligation. This is possible because of thoughtfulness, love extended without conditions. Such is the nature of Gift. As a result these materials are available to you, because someone like you has already gifted you with them.
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If you would like to add your thoughtfulness and love, to gift others with the availability of these materials, you're invited to make a tax-deductible contribution at our website, or send it to our address, both of which are shown below. A Course in Miracles Study Group with Raj, October 6th 2013 © by The Northwest Foundation for “A Course in Miracles” a non-profit corporation. All rights reserved PO Box 1490 / Kingston, WA 98346-1490 / USA Phone: 360-638-0530 Fax: 360-881-0071 Website: http://www.nwffacim.org E-Mail: paul@nwffacim.org
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