Moments Outside of Time

. . . on remembering we are Love Itself

The other day - gazing at far hills at dusk, one or two stars flickering in the cold November sky - I remembered that God was Love and only Love was real. Nothing real could be threatened and nothing unreal existed. There was nothing anywhere left to forgive. Words cannot express the joy.

Then it passed and I went inside.

Tara Singh called these experiences "moments outside of time."

Moments outside of time are contacts with one's own Divinity - the God-created self. What is harmonious to the eye or ear awakens a sensitivity to one's own identity. It is a state of awareness upon which nothing can intrude . . . The moment outide of time is the beauty of one's own true nature. It is a deep inward joy (Moments Outside of Time 19-20).

A Course in Miracles identifies these moments as holy instants. Our identification with the body and its fundamental drive towards conflict are briefly undone, leaving nothing in the gap between us and God (T-16.VII.6:4). You have no secrets in those moments; there are no mysteries.

The stillness and the peace of now enfold you in perfect gentleness. Everything is gone except the truth (T-16.VII.6:5-6).

Moments outside time are a form of privilege. They create responsiblity because they call us into relationship with the world based on total equality. The responsibility is to share rather than hoard, extend rather than project, and cooperate rather than compete.

Privilege teaches me to become a servant - not servile but of service, devoted to helpfulness rather than harm, to communion and coherence instead of disorder and confusion. I have to undo within whatever justifies judgment without.

That is why the holy instant makes clear that that there is no judgment in Heaven. Differences as such do not exist.

God is not partial. All His children have His total love, and all His gifts are freely given to everyone alike . . . the specialness of God's Children does not stem from exclusion but inclusion (T-1.V.3:2-3, 5).

The holy instant is a gift from the Holy Spirit, Who aligns our thinking with "all the thoughts we share with God" (W-pI.188.9:2). We remember that "the peace of God still shines in us, and from us to all living things that share our life” (W-pI.188.10:1). We understand that we are makers of the world and it is our choice - as Children of God - to make it "innocent, devoid of sin, and open to salvation" (W-pI.188.10:3-4).

The holy instant is this instant and every instant. The one you want it be it is. The one you would not have it be is lost to you. You must decide when it is (T-15.IV.1:3-6).

Our acceptance of the holy instant is not just about our peace, our happiness, and our tranquility. We never choose for us alone but for all of us together. Life is shared; nobody acts in isolation.

The thoughts we share with God are not ego thoughts. They are not personal; they do not depend on getting or keeping what we desire. They are not arguments, subtle or otherwise, for excluding others. They are not like orders but invitations. It can be frightening, how welcoming and accepting the thoughts of God are. They know that there is nothing to do because everything is already completed. Even our resistance is ordained and forgiven.

You are whole only in the moment,
and then you can listen,
and your mind becomes receptive
to the thought of God (Singh Gifts from the Retreat 2)

In the Thought of God, everything is perceived clearly as either a cry for love or the response of love to that cry. In all the moments of which we are aware, however we judge them, the common denominator is God and Love. It is possible to align our thinking and, by extension, our being with this Love in durable and sustainable ways. As our minds change, our relationships change, and as relationship changes, so does the world.

Moments outside time are glimpses of what awaits us we refuse to wait on God's Love, and welcome all our brothers and sisters - broadly defined to include reindeer, starfish and neutrinos - as our own self now. They teach us how to become Christ, endlessly extending forgiveness on behalf of God, Whose Creation we are.

To become Christ is to accept the gift of peace that moments outside of time offer us by allowing them to transform us. Transformation create responsibility because it creates relationship. Each relationship - with a flower, with a horse, with another person or group of people - is a symbol of our relationship with God, with Love, and with Reality.

For me, still, moments outside of time come and go. I do not cling to them and try not to covet them. The work as I understand and practice it is to be grateful and in gratitude to be present and helpful in ordinary ways to those with whom my living intersects. That is why I went inside and made soup with Chrisoula, prayed grace before eating, cleaned the kitchen, laid down to rest, and so forth.

In truth, the light that is shared with us in moments outside of time does not leave when the moments pass. It remains in us as the memory and ideal of a Love which excludes nothing and serves everything. When we consent to be led by it, it simplifies and clarifies our thinking so that our day-to-day lives become happier, gentler and more cooperative. What other luminosity could we need?

Thank you, always, for sharing this path with me.

Love,
Sean