Participation and Relationship

What happens when the illusion of control dissolves

I've got a sequence in mind here - this is the second of three parts.

When we realize the illusion of control, we become capable of actual participation with life. Our capacity for empathy and intuition expands. We percieve an order and flow that is in us but not of us. Everywhere we look, and everything we see, reflects the tendency of life towards extension. Innocence abounds.

Love is born in us, and we are born again in Love.

As I suggested last week, realizing the illusion of control is an understanding that dissolves prior confusion. Think of the old Hindu story about the snake and the rope. Once you see the rope is not a snake, it's over. You do not have to do anything else. Seeing correctly is the answer.

"Seeing" here is inclusive of many processes - biological, physical, cultural, spiritual. When seeing aligns with reality - when the rope is a rope, when our yes means yes - it invites us to participate with Creation in a new way.

Participation means we cooperate with life. We become aware and intentional. We care about what wants to to be created and we collaborate with others to help create it. New prayers, nuanced understandings, fresh connections. Causes for joy and causes for peace.

When I do not seek to control what happens then I get closer to the Christ in myself and in the world. I get closer to innocence. It was always there; it's just easier to see now my vision isn't clouded with self-centered drama and high stakes stunting.

A Course in Miracles calls this process awakening.

Christ has dreamed the dream of a forgiven world . . . His dream awakens us to truth. His vision gives the means for a return to our unlost and everlasting sanctity in God (W-pI.159.10:4, 7-8).

Control was always a fantasy. It was always a defense against knowing what we are capable of and what is possible when we join. We still face uncertainty but now, instead of ego screaming do this, do that, we hear the Holy Spirit saying gently, it's okay. It's more than okay.

So our lives change, right? They change because the rules of participation have changed. The rules are no longer set by ego. I no longer view the world and its inhabitants through a lens of personal survival. I see you as a friend, an ally, a collaborator in the work of love. And I am open to what evolves through us in the moments that we share.

Your mind and mine can unite in shining your ego away, releasing the strength of God into everything you think and do. Do not settle for anything less than this, and refuse to accept anything but this as your goal. Watch your mind carefully for any beliefs that hinder its accomplishment, and step away from them (T-4.IV.8:3-5).

When we seek freedom for all our brothers and sisters, so that together we might remember we are extensions of Love, bright stars in an otherwise darkenened firmament, we become acutely aware of what serves that goal and what does not. Jealousy, specialness, greed, regret . . .

We no longer give attention to what does not work and we do give attention to what does.

When I understood at last that control was an illusion, my mind almost instantly grew quieter. A stillness I’d read about and imagined but not yet known appeared and gently claimed me. My mind became more receptive and less critical. The cause for gratitude was everywhere, even in so-called problems and challenges.

In the stillness, I heard the Holy Spirit speak. Its Voice was pure and unmistakeable, like the two-note song of a chickadee. The Holy Spirit had always been there, had always been speaking, but suddenly ego had no catch on it. The clarity was breathtaking.

Emily Dickinson knew.

I heard, as if I had no Ear
until a Vital Word
Came all the way from Life to me
And then I knew I heard -

The Holy Spirit called me back to my self and my life. I was called to participate - to become a part of the whole as it appeared - but on terms that were new and easy to keep: be nice, be quiet, be responsible and in this way ready yourself for God.

The dream of sacrifice and death, the dream of loss and denial, lost its hold. Every relationship - from the momentary to the lifelong - was an invitation to awaken together to our shared potential for peace and happiness.

In your relationship the Holy Spirit has gently laid the real world; the world of happy dreams, from which awaking is so easy and so natural. For as your sleeping and your waking dreams represent the same wishes in your mind, so do the real world and the truth of Heaven join in the Will of God (T-18.II.9:4-5).

When we participate in life, we realize the happy dreams which precede God taking the last step and restoring us to the fullness of Creation (e.g., T-11.VIII.15:3-5).

And yes - happy dreams have a form. They include jazz, tea with friends, thunderstorms, bird-watching, voting, volunteering, gardening, shoe-tying, skinny-dipping, whatever. The difference is that the "doing" of these things is now informed by our new understanding of our function, which we share with the Holy Spirit and with each other.

I am the light of the world. That is my only function. That is why I am here (W-pI.61.5:3-5).

We are here to awaken and be glad. We are here to accept and enact our vocation to restore the Kingdom to "the perfect integration that can make it whole" (T-5.II.10:9). We are here to be helpful, gently offering our hand to all the world, so that nobody need be scared or alone again.

We are here to participate in happy dreams, together.

Thank you, always, for reading.

~ Sean