Dearest soul brother: I have read this twice and will go back and read it once again. It speaks to me loud and clear and answers many unasked questions that have lay dormant and now it blesses me to continue to simply be "love in form" and simply show up and "be" without too much concern of what will I "do". Awakens once again in the trust: "Where will you have me go? What will you have me do? and What will you have me say to to whom?"
Thank you for sharing and for being here, Sandra. I'm grateful 🙏🙏. Yes! Resting in trust - and learning how deep that rest can go - is a beautiful journey of learning. Thank you for sharing the way with me
Thanks for this reminder Sean - so true. Coincidentally, in Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest devotional for this date, he is saying something remarkably similar, using different language:
What we will be has not yet been made known. — 1 John 3:2
Naturally, we are inclined to be so mathematical and calculating that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing. We imagine that we have to reach some goal, but this isn’t the nature of the spiritual life.
The nature of the spiritual life is that we are certain in our uncertainty. Certainty is the mark of the commonsense life; gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain of the rest, never knowing what a day may bring. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness; it should be said with a burst of breathless expectation: we’re uncertain of the next step, but we’re certain of God.
The instant we abandon ourselves to God, he begins to fill our life with constant surprises. But when we become advocates of a creed, something within us dies. If we are clinging to a creed or a belief, we aren’t believing God himself; we are merely believing our beliefs about him.
Jesus said, “Unless you change and become like little children …” (Matthew 18:3). Spiritual life is the life of a child. A child isn’t uncertain of God, only of what God will do next. If we are sure of our beliefs, we are haughty and absolutely set in our opinions. Jesus said, “Believe also in me” (John 14:1). He didn’t say, “Believe your own ideas about me.” When we are rightly related to God, life is full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy.
Leave everything to God. It is gloriously uncertain how he will come, but he will come.
Thank you for sharing, Mark. It's good to hear from you.
And that's a great meditation. Letting go - surrendering - is such a fundamental spiritual value and yet feels so antithetical to our experience. Tara Singh used to say it was a problem of balance. There's nothing inherently u wrong with planning when to plant the garden, but there IS something wrong about planning for war against "Russia" or "Communists."
The emphasis on the child feels important; really, the whole family structure that was clearly inherent in Jesus' teaching (because it was so entangled with the religious and cultural traditions in which he lived) feels important. When we trust God as a Father Whose love is unquestionable, and whose guidance is always true, then what is there to worry about? We can play and be happy.
Easier said than done!
Thank you again for sharing and reading. I hope all is well.
Again timing is perfect. Last night I finished watching the Netflix series, Baby Reindeer and it disturbed me greatly as I was confronted with the prospect that, in the end, no one truly changes at a core level. For all our work done in seeing our dark shadow and finding Light amongst the darkness, could it really be that nothing can change who we are??
It caused a sleepless night and then I read your post this morning and I remembered the lie! You know the one….I am basically unlovable and so that darkness is only ever covered thinly with whatever keeps me safe and disguised and accepted. That lie!!
And so I connect yet again to your words that are from the Holy Spirit, through relationship in the modern media that is disconnected but used anyway. This reminder that exposes the tender underbelly. I’m reminded of when a wild animal is confronted with a more powerful version of itself, under threat. What else can it do in the moment of inevitable defeat but roll over and expose its underbelly, fully surrendered.
Thank you for sharing, Liz. That despair is familiar to me; it is hard to look on the world with hope. And for good reason! But we are not alone, and hope is our shared creation, for which I am deeply grateful. Surrender, yes - total surrender, yes - to Love, which ALSO shares its defenselessness and total vulnerability. Open arms, open hearts, open minds. Thank you for being here - I'm grateful for your clarity and honesty🙏🙏
I do love this: "Instead, ask how to use this moment to best remember your own holiness so that you will have something valuable to offer to the safety of your brothers and sisters." Sometimes, and it just happened recently, my Course brothers and sisters (and myself) have a tendency to offer something they think is valuable but often is not. It comes in the form of the phrases, "it's not real" or "it never happened", or "don't be concerned, we're all one". Then I'm not sure there's cooperation or collaboration, which I could have used. I'm looking at the situation as a mirror to learn from because everything is an opportunity for forgiveness. And I certainly know the ego is involved. Would love your thoughts :)
It is really hard to let go of the conviction that OUR judgment of our intentions is correct, and it is even harder to let go of the conviction that our judgment is necessary at all. We are so used to evaluating situations in order to respond to them! It feels so natural and there is so much support for it in the world.
So a lot of us - me too - end up enfolding our ACIM study and practice right in with the same old confusion. Somebody comes to us in need and we go right to "death isn't real," "penicillin is magic," "your aging dog is just an illusion," or whatever. We mean to help but in fact we are just using spiritual platitudes to avoid facing our own fear.
That's the problem in a LOT of our relationships - we are projecting our own guilt and fear onto the other and then trying to fix it there. "You should read Tara Singh," or "you need to finish the workbook" or "stop following politics and start following Jesus." And it doesn't work because it's not what the other needs! It's OUR fear and guilt hiding in a lecture that makes us feel temporarily superior, the "hero" of the exchange.
Which means the guilt and fear goes on unredressed in us and - worse - has probably complicated our brother or sister's attempts to find peace and happiness and well.
A big big turning point for me was realizing that I was not only hurting myself with projection and denial but a lot of other people as well. I got desperate, and in my desperation I sought the Holy Spirit - sought Christ - and discovered, as we all do, that they were right here, ready and willing to guide me into a happier place in which I could remember my own holiness and learn at last how to truly share with my brothers and sisters.
For me it is a practice that one undertakes in time in a body in a world. And it has to do with relationship - figuring out how to be present to all encounters so that I can see clearly the other's holiness. When we know our onw holiness, then we know what to look for in the other.
And THAT is the gift we can give, right? We can show the other their own holiness; we can help them remember their own holiness. And then whatever is going on, it's dealt with because shared holiness does not leave us with problems.
In the end, the form of the relationship - or what is apparently happening externally to the relationship - is not really the point. The point is seeking the other's holiness, which mirrors ours - which is a fractal of ours - and then resting in our shared remembered innocence. We feel briefly happy and at peace, even in circumstances that others would say are negative or troubling, and we carry that little light around with us and it shows us the little light in everyone else.
I think this is a LOT of fun as we get better at it. It almost feels like a game or a dance - a form of play: how holy can we go?
You hit that right out out of the park! Thank you for taking the time and giving this thought. It is how we SEE and figuring out how to be present. Sometimes we just don't know how to respond and that is perhaps why we resort to using platitudes. I never really thought of that. Being present can mean we don't have to say anything. The little light - yes! How could it not be fun. Much love,
Oh Lordy Sean, it is so true that we need to do nothing and yet......... it must be the hardest thing to simply let go.
I loved being reminded of this this week, as I have been working for the past few weeks with my relationships. Rather than than feeling despairing with some of my testing relationships, I have been understanding that I don't want to change the people, rather I understand that they are perfect. And not only that, they were perfectly designed for me. They are my gift exactly as they are, it is I that need to change my perception of what I think they do and are.
What you wrote fits perfectly for me.
"And that learning happens by showing up over and over - with open hands, open hearts and open minds - to the life that is given to us."
The freedom comes when you realise that your previously believe enemies, are in fact your bestest friends.
Thank you, Suzy. It's always good to hear from you.
That willingness to see beyond my fear of the other - my desire to control the other - to the love which liberates us all as one - is such a journey. And it's kind of sad because in a way it isn't a journey at all - it's just remembering what is, was and will always be true. No learning required! But here we are.
"But here we are" is also liberating, in its way, especially the "we." Remembering our inherent friendliness is a shared function, and I am deeply grateful to you - and everyone really - for helping me remember it.
Thank you for reminding me to stay present. I do seem to 'make a mountain our of a mole hill' until I can pull myself back to see how God is in my life and wanting me to connect and love and send love forth. I will continue! Thanks again for your weekly blog. Much appreciated!
You're welcome, Robyn. Thanks for reading and being here. I've built whole mountain ranges before remembering to slow down and just give attention to what is given 🙏🙏Slowly but surely we remember the cause for joy and peace.
Yes! Agree. And it’s so easy to get discouraged and even despairing about the times (the dream?) we’re living in. I have friends and family who are REALLY out of sorts right now in a way I’ve never seen before. I can easily go there too, and I have. All I have to do is turn on the evening news (which I now avoid). But I find peace when I focus on being truly helpful (loving) towards the people right in front of me, rather than getting worked up about what is, at least for me, beyond my reach, i.e. Ukraine, Haiti, college campuses.
The dream does seem to be intensifying - I feel it and sense it in others as well - but on the other hand, it was ever thus. I am learning to attend what is near me - the folks, the animals, the plants, the landscape. A lot of the larger crises - which you identify, and there are others as you know - are so abstract that it's easy for me to enter what for lack of a better word feels like performative despair, especially when there is so much within literal walking distance that needs care and love. I'm not preaching because I struggle with this routinely - it is absolutely part of my classroom.
I’ve just read this - after sitting at my breakfast table doing my mind map of tasks for the day!!! And then berating myself already for what I won’t/don’t/can’t get through in the next 12 hours. Thanks for changing my perspective and giving me a reflection on how I start my day. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll take time to do some ACIM reading before getting on with running the show 😁. I’m very new to this Course but very grateful that my Teacher has pointed me in your direction for some day to day mindfulness practice on how to make ACIM real.
Thanks for being here Deborah 🙏🙏 It is so so hard to find the balance between just being present to our lives in the world and trying to run our lives - which means trying to run everybody's life - in the world. I am learning constantly, and always in relationship. Thank you for reading and sharing - I'm very grateful.
Thank you very much Sean. I needed to hear specifically this message today. Laud and clear! 😊 ego is throwing a tantrum right now, but it is okay, instead of automatically rushing to console it or following its suggestions on how to find an escape route or figuring out how to discipline/punish it, I just keep keeping quiet, knowing that it is not as bad as ego makes it 😊
Thanks for being here, Aysin. Not responding to ego - not buying into its intepretation, its drama and its preference for chaos - is so so helpful. We don't have to DO anything! It is truly a relief to learn that gentleness and keeping it simple are practical tools gifted us by the Holy Spirit. Lots of happiness in simply letting life be.
Thanks again Sean,reading your post shows me how i need other people’s help in understanding what the course is saying. I would like to say much more but I don’t need to as it has been all said by all your people. Mark I followed Oswald chambers for years and loved him so glad to hear that someone else was a fan Im finding it hard to read as eyes are fading, but this to is an opportunity to see more clearly. Thanks again Sean for your diligence in studying the course and passing it on
Thank you Sean for being here. I am very grateful. We do learn together. In a way, being a course student is like making a commitment to be a friend to the whole world, and all its inhabitants - from grasshoppers to people, the so-called good and the so-called bad. Thank you for reminding me as you always do that I am not alone.
Sean iwas reading a little bit about Albert Einsteins answer to the question did he believe in god. His answer was I believe in the god of Spinoza ,you have probably heard it but it’s what I somehow always believed but darent tell anyone. Like most people I was never free to believe my own beliefs but the course has given me license to believe in me
Thanks, Sean . . . what makes us happy? What allows us to help others? I think about this often, how naturally we can be loving and peaceful and yet how hard it seems to simply BE that way. I often find myself simply accepting God as what helps me remember what I am in truth which, paradoxically, IS what I am in truth - that which loves, that which helps, that which is happy and seeks only to extend its happiness . . . lesson of a mystery than it sometimes seems!
Thank you for being here and sharing, Sean. It means a lot. I hope all is well on your end.
Dearest soul brother: I have read this twice and will go back and read it once again. It speaks to me loud and clear and answers many unasked questions that have lay dormant and now it blesses me to continue to simply be "love in form" and simply show up and "be" without too much concern of what will I "do". Awakens once again in the trust: "Where will you have me go? What will you have me do? and What will you have me say to to whom?"
Thank you for sharing and for being here, Sandra. I'm grateful 🙏🙏. Yes! Resting in trust - and learning how deep that rest can go - is a beautiful journey of learning. Thank you for sharing the way with me
~ Sean
Thanks for this reminder Sean - so true. Coincidentally, in Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest devotional for this date, he is saying something remarkably similar, using different language:
What we will be has not yet been made known. — 1 John 3:2
Naturally, we are inclined to be so mathematical and calculating that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing. We imagine that we have to reach some goal, but this isn’t the nature of the spiritual life.
The nature of the spiritual life is that we are certain in our uncertainty. Certainty is the mark of the commonsense life; gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain of the rest, never knowing what a day may bring. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness; it should be said with a burst of breathless expectation: we’re uncertain of the next step, but we’re certain of God.
The instant we abandon ourselves to God, he begins to fill our life with constant surprises. But when we become advocates of a creed, something within us dies. If we are clinging to a creed or a belief, we aren’t believing God himself; we are merely believing our beliefs about him.
Jesus said, “Unless you change and become like little children …” (Matthew 18:3). Spiritual life is the life of a child. A child isn’t uncertain of God, only of what God will do next. If we are sure of our beliefs, we are haughty and absolutely set in our opinions. Jesus said, “Believe also in me” (John 14:1). He didn’t say, “Believe your own ideas about me.” When we are rightly related to God, life is full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy.
Leave everything to God. It is gloriously uncertain how he will come, but he will come.
Thank you for sharing, Mark. It's good to hear from you.
And that's a great meditation. Letting go - surrendering - is such a fundamental spiritual value and yet feels so antithetical to our experience. Tara Singh used to say it was a problem of balance. There's nothing inherently u wrong with planning when to plant the garden, but there IS something wrong about planning for war against "Russia" or "Communists."
The emphasis on the child feels important; really, the whole family structure that was clearly inherent in Jesus' teaching (because it was so entangled with the religious and cultural traditions in which he lived) feels important. When we trust God as a Father Whose love is unquestionable, and whose guidance is always true, then what is there to worry about? We can play and be happy.
Easier said than done!
Thank you again for sharing and reading. I hope all is well.
~ Sean
Again timing is perfect. Last night I finished watching the Netflix series, Baby Reindeer and it disturbed me greatly as I was confronted with the prospect that, in the end, no one truly changes at a core level. For all our work done in seeing our dark shadow and finding Light amongst the darkness, could it really be that nothing can change who we are??
It caused a sleepless night and then I read your post this morning and I remembered the lie! You know the one….I am basically unlovable and so that darkness is only ever covered thinly with whatever keeps me safe and disguised and accepted. That lie!!
And so I connect yet again to your words that are from the Holy Spirit, through relationship in the modern media that is disconnected but used anyway. This reminder that exposes the tender underbelly. I’m reminded of when a wild animal is confronted with a more powerful version of itself, under threat. What else can it do in the moment of inevitable defeat but roll over and expose its underbelly, fully surrendered.
Thank you 🙏
Thank you for sharing, Liz. That despair is familiar to me; it is hard to look on the world with hope. And for good reason! But we are not alone, and hope is our shared creation, for which I am deeply grateful. Surrender, yes - total surrender, yes - to Love, which ALSO shares its defenselessness and total vulnerability. Open arms, open hearts, open minds. Thank you for being here - I'm grateful for your clarity and honesty🙏🙏
~ Sean
It’s as though you never need to write any other messages, to share, Sean.
The Holy Spirit has spoken, clearly, to you. This is the Course, in its totality, for me.
Thank you for being a loving and willing channel 🙏❤️
Thank you, Jennifer - I appreciate the kind words and your presence here. We figure this stuff out together, and I am very grateful 🙏🙏
~ Sean
I do love this: "Instead, ask how to use this moment to best remember your own holiness so that you will have something valuable to offer to the safety of your brothers and sisters." Sometimes, and it just happened recently, my Course brothers and sisters (and myself) have a tendency to offer something they think is valuable but often is not. It comes in the form of the phrases, "it's not real" or "it never happened", or "don't be concerned, we're all one". Then I'm not sure there's cooperation or collaboration, which I could have used. I'm looking at the situation as a mirror to learn from because everything is an opportunity for forgiveness. And I certainly know the ego is involved. Would love your thoughts :)
Thanks for reading and sharing, Susan.
It is really hard to let go of the conviction that OUR judgment of our intentions is correct, and it is even harder to let go of the conviction that our judgment is necessary at all. We are so used to evaluating situations in order to respond to them! It feels so natural and there is so much support for it in the world.
So a lot of us - me too - end up enfolding our ACIM study and practice right in with the same old confusion. Somebody comes to us in need and we go right to "death isn't real," "penicillin is magic," "your aging dog is just an illusion," or whatever. We mean to help but in fact we are just using spiritual platitudes to avoid facing our own fear.
That's the problem in a LOT of our relationships - we are projecting our own guilt and fear onto the other and then trying to fix it there. "You should read Tara Singh," or "you need to finish the workbook" or "stop following politics and start following Jesus." And it doesn't work because it's not what the other needs! It's OUR fear and guilt hiding in a lecture that makes us feel temporarily superior, the "hero" of the exchange.
Which means the guilt and fear goes on unredressed in us and - worse - has probably complicated our brother or sister's attempts to find peace and happiness and well.
A big big turning point for me was realizing that I was not only hurting myself with projection and denial but a lot of other people as well. I got desperate, and in my desperation I sought the Holy Spirit - sought Christ - and discovered, as we all do, that they were right here, ready and willing to guide me into a happier place in which I could remember my own holiness and learn at last how to truly share with my brothers and sisters.
For me it is a practice that one undertakes in time in a body in a world. And it has to do with relationship - figuring out how to be present to all encounters so that I can see clearly the other's holiness. When we know our onw holiness, then we know what to look for in the other.
And THAT is the gift we can give, right? We can show the other their own holiness; we can help them remember their own holiness. And then whatever is going on, it's dealt with because shared holiness does not leave us with problems.
In the end, the form of the relationship - or what is apparently happening externally to the relationship - is not really the point. The point is seeking the other's holiness, which mirrors ours - which is a fractal of ours - and then resting in our shared remembered innocence. We feel briefly happy and at peace, even in circumstances that others would say are negative or troubling, and we carry that little light around with us and it shows us the little light in everyone else.
I think this is a LOT of fun as we get better at it. It almost feels like a game or a dance - a form of play: how holy can we go?
Thanks again for reading and sharing 🙏🙏
~ Sean
You hit that right out out of the park! Thank you for taking the time and giving this thought. It is how we SEE and figuring out how to be present. Sometimes we just don't know how to respond and that is perhaps why we resort to using platitudes. I never really thought of that. Being present can mean we don't have to say anything. The little light - yes! How could it not be fun. Much love,
Susan
Surrender to the Holy Spirit is definitely the goal and one I practice daily! Thank for this, glad to have found you.
Thank you for being here, Michelle 🙏🙏
~ Sean
Oh Lordy Sean, it is so true that we need to do nothing and yet......... it must be the hardest thing to simply let go.
I loved being reminded of this this week, as I have been working for the past few weeks with my relationships. Rather than than feeling despairing with some of my testing relationships, I have been understanding that I don't want to change the people, rather I understand that they are perfect. And not only that, they were perfectly designed for me. They are my gift exactly as they are, it is I that need to change my perception of what I think they do and are.
What you wrote fits perfectly for me.
"And that learning happens by showing up over and over - with open hands, open hearts and open minds - to the life that is given to us."
The freedom comes when you realise that your previously believe enemies, are in fact your bestest friends.
Who would have thought!
Love and Blessings as Always, Suzy xxx
Thank you, Suzy. It's always good to hear from you.
That willingness to see beyond my fear of the other - my desire to control the other - to the love which liberates us all as one - is such a journey. And it's kind of sad because in a way it isn't a journey at all - it's just remembering what is, was and will always be true. No learning required! But here we are.
"But here we are" is also liberating, in its way, especially the "we." Remembering our inherent friendliness is a shared function, and I am deeply grateful to you - and everyone really - for helping me remember it.
🙏🙏
~ Sean
Yes Sean, spot on as always. No learning is required, simply the unlearning that takes us back to the truth of only Love. Blessing Suzy xxx
Thank you for reminding me to stay present. I do seem to 'make a mountain our of a mole hill' until I can pull myself back to see how God is in my life and wanting me to connect and love and send love forth. I will continue! Thanks again for your weekly blog. Much appreciated!
You're welcome, Robyn. Thanks for reading and being here. I've built whole mountain ranges before remembering to slow down and just give attention to what is given 🙏🙏Slowly but surely we remember the cause for joy and peace.
~ Sean
Yes! Agree. And it’s so easy to get discouraged and even despairing about the times (the dream?) we’re living in. I have friends and family who are REALLY out of sorts right now in a way I’ve never seen before. I can easily go there too, and I have. All I have to do is turn on the evening news (which I now avoid). But I find peace when I focus on being truly helpful (loving) towards the people right in front of me, rather than getting worked up about what is, at least for me, beyond my reach, i.e. Ukraine, Haiti, college campuses.
The dream does seem to be intensifying - I feel it and sense it in others as well - but on the other hand, it was ever thus. I am learning to attend what is near me - the folks, the animals, the plants, the landscape. A lot of the larger crises - which you identify, and there are others as you know - are so abstract that it's easy for me to enter what for lack of a better word feels like performative despair, especially when there is so much within literal walking distance that needs care and love. I'm not preaching because I struggle with this routinely - it is absolutely part of my classroom.
I’ve just read this - after sitting at my breakfast table doing my mind map of tasks for the day!!! And then berating myself already for what I won’t/don’t/can’t get through in the next 12 hours. Thanks for changing my perspective and giving me a reflection on how I start my day. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll take time to do some ACIM reading before getting on with running the show 😁. I’m very new to this Course but very grateful that my Teacher has pointed me in your direction for some day to day mindfulness practice on how to make ACIM real.
Thanks for being here Deborah 🙏🙏 It is so so hard to find the balance between just being present to our lives in the world and trying to run our lives - which means trying to run everybody's life - in the world. I am learning constantly, and always in relationship. Thank you for reading and sharing - I'm very grateful.
~ Sean
So very grateful for your willingness to share, it helps beyond what words can express. ♥️🙏
Thanks for reading and sharing, Glenda. I appreciate it very much. We share the way home 🙏🙏
~ Sean
Perfect timing
No accidents in salvation!! Thanks for being here, Maureen 🙏🙏
~ Sean
This is so relevant to where I am right now , thankyou so much for sharing
You're welcome, Gail. Thank you for reading and for being here. I am grateful for the good company 🙏🙏
~ Sean
Thank you very much Sean. I needed to hear specifically this message today. Laud and clear! 😊 ego is throwing a tantrum right now, but it is okay, instead of automatically rushing to console it or following its suggestions on how to find an escape route or figuring out how to discipline/punish it, I just keep keeping quiet, knowing that it is not as bad as ego makes it 😊
Thanks for being here, Aysin. Not responding to ego - not buying into its intepretation, its drama and its preference for chaos - is so so helpful. We don't have to DO anything! It is truly a relief to learn that gentleness and keeping it simple are practical tools gifted us by the Holy Spirit. Lots of happiness in simply letting life be.
~ Sean
Thanks again Sean,reading your post shows me how i need other people’s help in understanding what the course is saying. I would like to say much more but I don’t need to as it has been all said by all your people. Mark I followed Oswald chambers for years and loved him so glad to hear that someone else was a fan Im finding it hard to read as eyes are fading, but this to is an opportunity to see more clearly. Thanks again Sean for your diligence in studying the course and passing it on
Thank you Sean for being here. I am very grateful. We do learn together. In a way, being a course student is like making a commitment to be a friend to the whole world, and all its inhabitants - from grasshoppers to people, the so-called good and the so-called bad. Thank you for reminding me as you always do that I am not alone.
~ Sean
Sean iwas reading a little bit about Albert Einsteins answer to the question did he believe in god. His answer was I believe in the god of Spinoza ,you have probably heard it but it’s what I somehow always believed but darent tell anyone. Like most people I was never free to believe my own beliefs but the course has given me license to believe in me
Thanks, Sean . . . what makes us happy? What allows us to help others? I think about this often, how naturally we can be loving and peaceful and yet how hard it seems to simply BE that way. I often find myself simply accepting God as what helps me remember what I am in truth which, paradoxically, IS what I am in truth - that which loves, that which helps, that which is happy and seeks only to extend its happiness . . . lesson of a mystery than it sometimes seems!
Thank you for being here and sharing, Sean. It means a lot. I hope all is well on your end.
~ Sean
Thank you Mike 🙏🙏
~ Sean